


Alibi

by SoftLullaby



Series: Embers of Heaven's Wrath [2]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Not a Love Story, Original Character(s), Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 12:06:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11782833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoftLullaby/pseuds/SoftLullaby
Summary: What happens when Emberliegh and Heavenliegh meet again?Everything has changed. Heavenliegh has forgotten so much and begun to rebuild her life, whereas Emberliegh has become harder, crueler and more volatile. There is so much more at stake than Heavenliegh knows.





	Alibi

“Never actually thought I’d see you again…”

I blinked and swung my gaze around, not recognizing the voice which greeted me. I met the mana-infused violet gaze of a woman who shared my face. I pulled in a sharp breath; was this what I had been waiting for? Was this the loved one who had finally found me, after seeking me all over Azeroth?

Tears stung my eyes at the thought. I had family. It was undeniable; she looked exactly like me! Except for the way magic and fire wreathed her body, the undeniable anger and hatred in her eyes, she looked identical to me. It was almost as looking in a mirror.

But the cruelty, anger and hatred in her gaze was enough to bring me pause. She had not sought me out for kindness or for a reunion. That hatred was directed at me, and suddenly I wondered if this was the woman who had written me so many times before. Was this the woman, Blaise, who called me a monster? And am I? Am I a monster?

“Hello, Heaven,” she said softly, and although she smiled at me, I had this feeling in my heart that it was not out of kindness or affection. Something about her frightened me more deeply than I could understand; this unfathomable terror clawing inside of me at this woman’s smile and presence was enough to make me take a defensive step backward.

Yet what had she called me? Heaven? Was it a condescending endearment, or had she spoken a nickname from my past? I felt it must have been the latter for the way it resounded deep within my heart.

“Who are you?” I finally brought myself to ask. So many times had I had courage with the undead creatures plaguing Azeroth, and yet with this woman the same bravado was difficult to manage. I knew those eyes of hers were linked to the nightmares I had been having.

She exhaled a soft sigh but did not pursue me. “That’s right,” she answered quietly, “you can’t remember anything about me. Such a shame, considering how close our bond once was. And… how close it still is.”

I was unprepared for her next action. Her hand went to the small dagger at her belt, a wicked thing that resembled a hot poker more than anything else. I shivered, not knowing what she intended to do with it. The next instant, though, when she stabbed it into her arm, I felt an answering pain in my own. The agony was intense, and I could not help the scream which tore from me.

I lifted my arm, staring in shock as blood welled up from an invisible wound and began to drip from my arm. Across from me, the woman had tucked the object carefully back into her belt, barely registering an outward emotion at the pain. “Go ahead,” she told me. Her voice had a patient quality to it, like she was instructing me. “Heal yourself.”

I did as she told me, almost afraid it would not work. I reached for that familiar well of warmth and hope within me (it did not come as easily as it should have, which frightened me further). Light began to wreath my slender fingers and I touched the wounded skin, invoking a healing spell; a small one, merely meant to close the wound.

When it worked, I nearly sagged in relief, but when I looked across at the woman once more, I took note that hers had mended as well. She was smiling at me again, and although there was no hatred burning in the gesture, the chill of it was stifling.

“I can answer so many questions for you, sister. So many. But I don’t think it will matter. You are already forgetting things. So many precious, important things. Like perhaps the death knight?” I must have shown my shock on my face at her observation for she broke into soft, bitter laughter. “I’ve seen everything, Heaven. I know everything.”

I tried to pretend it was not the case. The part she said about forgetting, I tried to pretend it was a lie. But the truth was… it was not a lie. Not at all. I could scarcely remember important things. I knew, from my journal, that we had shared many beautiful kisses, that we had even confessed our love for one another. But I could not  _remember_ those moments.

It terrified me so much that I had stayed away from Naerdris again. I knew he might worry for my well-being but I simply could not bring myself to so much as look at him when my world was crumbling away as it was.

The only thing I had begun to count on was him, and this bond I had developed with him. And even it… was crumbling away. It was vanishing. And here I was, powerless to stop it.

“How can I stop this?” I found myself asking her, whispering the words. If she knew I was forgetting, then she must have known why. And if she knew why, perhaps she could help me fix it.

“You can’t.” The answer hit me like a bucket of ice water to the face, cold and sobering. I felt my heart shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. “I wish I could tell you otherwise, Heaven, I really do. But the Chainfire is already taking your memories. But it is worse than that. So much worse. You have no idea what is happening, what is going on. You don’t understand the gravity of the situation.”

“What do you mean?” My voice sounded so distant, so far away, and I could feel the madness clawing at the edges of my vision.

“It won’t affect you alone.”

For a moment, I let those words sink it. They were simple, but they were the harbinger of the most worrisome of my fears. I felt sick inside as I recognized the cold truth of them. Others would forget me, too. I would become a phantom, with no self. Any self I carved would eventually be forgotten as well. Despair finally clawed its way from my stomach to the rest of my body and I sank to my knees.

It was over.

When she knelt beside me, her hand on my arm was comforting, but it only made the threatening tears at last spill over onto my cheeks. I hated that my body trembled, but was powerless to stop it.

“The world will forget you. I’m sorry for that, but the Chainfire has already begun erasing you from their lives. But Heaven… that’s the danger, don’t you see? A terrible, insidious danger. I should never have used the Chainfire ritual, should never have created that web, not around you, not around anyone. It was hidden away for a reason, and I’m sorry. I am so very sorry…” There was remorse in her voice, and I found I could not hate her. There was no way for me to hate her. I loved her in that moment. She was honest, and she was as afraid as I was.

“What… will happen?” I was barely aware when I had spoken.

She hesitated, but I knew she would not deny me the words. She knew I needed to hear them. “It will remove your memories first. It already blocked out who you were, it will now erase all that you have become. And then the memories of those around you will fade. I imagine… they already have, at least a little. Your bond with the death knight was stronger, so memories of him will be the last that fades.”

She paused a moment, debating. I could see in her eyes that she was uncertain how to proceed. When she did, the words were quiet, but dull and without inflection. “Their memories will be the next to fade. Even your death knight’s memories of you will evaporate. But… it’s more than that, Heaven. Forgive me, I am having trouble with this part.” She exhaled a quiet sigh. “The situations where you appeared will not vanish, just… your part in them will. And no new information will be written. If these people who knew you look too closely… Well, that is the true danger.”

I blinked at her, and suddenly I understood. She had mentioned a real, insidious danger. This was it! “It could tear the fabric of reality, create a paradox.” I found my blood going cold. Even if the others never thought to look at the memories, Naerdris would. For him, the memories were something of vast importance. I was important to him.

“Yes,” the woman answered, and I felt a heaviness lodge in my stomach. “You will cease to exist, Heaven. Not only will you be forgotten, eventually new memories will be unable to form for anyone encountering you. And eventually… they’ll be unable to see you. You’ll be… a ghost.”

“Not a ghost,” I whispered, and I hated the way my voice sounded. I sounded hopeless; I, the girl who always wanted to bring hope to others, was bereft of my own. It was the saddest irony I had ever faced. “Not a ghost at all. A phantom.” Tears fell down my face again, and I wrapped my arms around myself. “How long? How long do I have before it is all… gone?”

I saw her shake her head, saw the sad way she looked at me. “I wish I knew. It was an experiment, Heaven. I’d never used the ritual before that.”

I clenched my fists into tight balls at my sides, feeling utterly hopeless in that moment. “Why, then?” I forced myself to ask. “Why experiment at all?”

I could see the way her face drained of color, the way it registered that I truly did not recall anything. It was as if she had never considered that I would forget  _that_ , of all things. How could I forget  _that_? Although I could not remember, I had the feeling that I  _should._ That it was something so profound, something which had shaped me in a way that nothing else ever could. Her reason for the spell, for the experiment; somehow I knew it was for  _me._

“I don’t want to tell you that, Heaven,” she whispered, her voice cracking. Her demeanor caved just a little, and I could see the hurt in her face. But it was a strange thing, a hurt not actually centered on herself, but on me. “I can’t tell you that. What happened, why I felt the need to erase your memory…”

“You have to tell me,” I insisted, yet my voice was so small. So quiet. It trembled with emotion. A part of me understood I did not actually  _want_ to know that part. “Please. Maybe… maybe it holds the key…”

“It doesn’t!” she snapped, her eyes glimmering like brilliant, angry, magic-infused shards of gemstone. They were vibrant, but I got the feeling that everything about her always was. “If I tell you, what was the purpose?!” She flung her hands angrily, although I soon came to understand it was never anger at all. It was desperation. Fear. “I did what I did to save you! To erase that awfulness! If I tell you, if I bring it back, then what was the purpose of any of this? If I tell you, then all of this, it would be for nothing!”

Her temper slowly, gradually, cooled, and she erected a calm mask over her features. She looked passive, placid. Nothing like herself when I had first stumbled upon her. “I don’t care if the world crumbles around us,” she said, her voice small, rather like mine had been. “At least I took away your pain.”


End file.
